As robots increasingly make their way to the largest enterprises’ manufacturing plants and warehouses, the need for access to critical business and operational data has never been more crucial.
At its Sapphire conference, SAP announced it is collaborating with NEURA Robotics and NVIDIA to enable its SAP Joule agents to connect enterprise data and processes with NEURA’s advanced cognitive robots.
The integration will enable robots to support tasks including adaptive manufacturing, autonomous replenishment, compliance monitoring and predictive maintenance. Using the Mega NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint, SAP customers will be able to simulate and validate large robotic fleets in digital twins before deploying them in real-world facilities.
Virtual Assistants Become Physical Helpers
AI agents are traditionally confined to the digital world, which means they’re unable to take actionable steps for physical tasks and do real-world work in warehouses, factories and other industrial workplaces.
SAP’s collaboration with NVIDIA and NEURA Robotics shows how enterprises will be able to use Joule to plan and simulate complex and dynamic scenarios that include physical AI and autonomous humanoid robots to address critical planning, safety and project requirements, streamline operations and embody business intelligence in the physical world.
Revolutionizing Supply Chain Management: NVIDIA, SAP Tackle Complex Challenges
Today’s supply chains have become more fragile and complex with ever-evolving constraints around consumer, economic, political and environmental dimensions. The partnership between NVIDIA and SAP aims to enhance supply chain planning capabilities by integrating NVIDIA cuOpt technology — for real-time route optimization — with SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) to enable customers to plan and simulate the most complex and dynamic scenarios for more rapid and confident decision making.
By extending SAP IBP with NVIDIA’s highly scalable, GPU-powered platform, customers can accelerate time-to-value by facilitating the management of larger and more intricate models without sacrificing runtime. This groundbreaking collaboration will empower businesses to address unique planning requirements, streamline operations and drive better business outcomes.
Supporting Supply Chains With AI and Humanoid Robots
SAP Chief Technology Officer Philipp Herzig offered a preview of the technology integration in a keynote demonstration at SAP Sapphire in Orlando, showing the transformative potential for physical AI in businesses in how Joule — SAP’s generative AI co-pilot — works with data from the real world in combination with humanoid robots.
“Robots and autonomous agents are at the heart of the next wave of industrial AI, seamlessly connecting people, data, and processes to unlock new levels of efficiency and innovation,” said Herzig. “SAP, NVIDIA and NEURA Robotics share a vision for uniting AI and robotics to improve safety, efficiency and productivity across industries.”
With the integration of the Mega NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint, enterprises can harness physical AI and digital twins to enable new AI agents that can deliver real-time, contextual insights and automate routine tasks.
The collaboration between the three companies allows NEURA robots to see, learn and adapt in real time — whether restocking shelves, inspecting infrastructure or resolving supply chain disruptions.
SAP Joule AI Agents are deployed directly onto NEURA’s cognitive robots, enabling real-time decision-making and the execution of physical tasks such as inventory audits or equipment repairs. The robots learn continuously in physically accurate digital twins, powered by NVIDIA Omniverse libraries and technologies, and using business-critical data from SAP applications, while the Mega NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint helps evaluate and validate deployment options and large-scale task interactions.
Showcasing Joule’s Data-Driven Insights on NEURA Robots
The technology demonstration showcases the abilities of NEURA robots to handle tasks guided by Joule’s data-driven insights.
Businesses bridging simulation-to-reality deployments can use the integrated technology stack to provide zero-shot navigation and inference to address defect rates and production line inefficiencies without interrupting operations.
Herzig showed how Joule can direct a NEURA 4NE1 robot to inspect a machine in the showroom, powered by AI agents, scanning equipment and triggering an SAP Asset Performance management alert before a failure disrupts operations.
It’s but a glimpse into the future of what’s possible with AI agents and robotics.
